Yu Yitung

Yu Yitung was a Manchu official who fled China to escape from anti-Manchu violence in the 1910s.

The Xinhai Revolution of 1911 was heavily colored by attitudes or ideologies of Han Chinese ethnic nationalism, and anti-Manchu violence. Yu fled to Manila, in the Philippines, to escape this violence, but was captured there by the Japanese in the 1940s and was executed.

His two sons, however, stayed on in the Philippines, and survived the war, only to have their loyalties questioned by members of the overseas Chinese diaspora community there. They were deported to Taiwan, but renounced their Chinese (ROC) nationality or citizenship, and moved to Singapore. As such, Yu's sons represent an interesting and significant case that challenges our assumptions about nationality and identity, or that at least shows how nationalisms based on ethnic identity leave many (e.g. Manchus) out, such that they belong nowhere and face ostracism, suspicion, or even deportation to places equally not their own.

References

• Dan Shao, "Bloodline & Borderline: Nationality Law and Sovereignty: Contestation over Taiwan 1894-1980," talk given at Shape Shifters: Journeys Across Terrains of Race and Identity conference, University of California, Santa Barbara, 18 March 2016.